Developers had until 5pm on July 16 to submit their plans for consideration, after which Crown Estate Scotland will begin the process of examining each application.

The partnership brings together Ocean Winds’ global expertise, gained locally delivering Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm (950MW Moray East); and Aker’s 40+ year history of supply chain and project delivery in the Scottish offshore wind and oil and gas sectors. The partners also both hold a majority stake in Principle Power, one of the most proven floating foundation solutions for offshore wind, operational at the Scottish Kincardine project.

Aiming to reduce the cost of energy to benefit the consumer while at the same time increasing Scottish supply chain content to benefit the economy, the consortium said it is committed to delivering floating offshore wind energy at commercial scale, with a vision of large-scale Scottish job creation through ground-breaking supply chain investment.

The partnership will support Scotland to become a global leader in floating wind through substantial early investment in national industrial capability. This will allow the Scottish supply chain to mature in time to take full advantage of a transformational opportunity. Mapping and engaging with the local supply chain have already resulted in agreements with suppliers who have demonstrated preparedness and will enable early investment priorities. This is fundamental to increase local content, create a sustainable industrial transition, and deliver local skills and jobs.

Dan Finch, managing director of Ocean Winds UK, said: “Our vision is for Scotland to become the undisputed global leader in floating offshore wind. We are dedicated to work with all stakeholders to achieve this, to create high-skilled jobs in Scotland, and to generate exportable technology innovation. We took Moray East from concept to concrete-and steel-reality. Now we need a new concept to access the deep-water sites of Scotland’s ‘net-zero’ future. Aker’s heritage combined with OW’s experience will make floating offshore wind a commercial, low-cost, low-carbon reality.”

Sian Lloyd-Rees, managing director of Aker Offshore Wind UK, said: “The ScotWind project is a great step towards Scotland delivering on its national climate change policies through £multi-billion investments in energy infrastructure and the local supply chain, as well as the creation of thousands of local jobs. Our bid provides a platform for genuine technological innovation to benefit the whole offshore wind sector and position Scotland as an engineering world leader. Aker have been instrumental in the design and deployment of more than half of all semisubmersible offshore installations globally and we strongly believe our experience and investment approach will deliver this future.”

Further details regarding the general level of interest and confirmation of next steps will be provided this week.

Colin Palmer, director of marine for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “We really appreciate and acknowledge all the time, effort and investment that has gone into each and every application to ScotWind Leasing. We know that there is significant interest in Scotland’s ability to host major offshore wind projects, and our engagement with the sector throughout the development of ScotWind has been clear evidence of that.

“We’ll now look forward to the next stage in the journey, and beginning the work of assessing applications and, ultimately, awarding agreements that can help move some of these exciting potential projects closer to reality.”